There are cases in which a connector having numerous contacts mates with a mating connector. Here, as the number of the contacts increases, the force required for mating the connectors is increased further and further. In order to reduce the mating force of these connectors, lever-type connectors have been known which are devised such that one connector is provided with a slide member having a cam groove that engages with a projection provided on a mating connector, and a lever that drives this slide member.
With such a lever-type connector, temporary mating between connectors is performed because there are cases in which the connectors break unless the lever is driven after being temporarily mated.
The lever-type connector shown in FIGS. 16 through 19 (see JP-A-09-115,605), for example, is known as such a lever-type connector. FIG. 16 is a side view showing a conventional lever-type connector and a mating connector prior to mating. FIG. 17 is a side view showing them temporarily mated. FIG. 18 is an enlarged view in the vicinity of the entrance of a cam groove at the time of the temporary mating. FIG. 19 is a partial sectional view along line 19-19 in FIG. 17.
The lever-type connector 101 shown in FIGS. 16 and 17 is designed to mate with a mating connector 150, and comprises a substantially rectangular housing 110 to which a plurality of contacts (not shown) are attached, a slide member 120, and a lever 130.
Here, as is shown in FIG. 19, the housing 110 has a cavity 115 that receives the mating connector 150. A pair of slide member receiving passages 111 extending in a direction orthogonal to the direction of mating are provided in the side walls of the housing 110. Legs of the slide member 120 are received in a movable manner in these slide member receiving passages 111.
A plurality of cam grooves 121 that respectively engage with drive projections 152 provided on the mating connector 150 are formed in the legs of the slide member 120 as shown in FIGS. 16 through 19.
The lever 130 is attached to the housing 110 so as to pivot about the pivoting shaft 131. The lever 130 causes the slide member 120 to move inside the slide member receiving passages 111 as a result of the pivoting. Specifically, the lever 130 pivots about the pivoting shaft 131 in the direction of arrow A from the initial position shown in FIG. 17 to the final position (not shown). Here, the lever 130 causes the slide member 120 to move forward (leftward in FIG. 17) from the initial position shown in FIG. 17 to the final position. Conversely, the lever 130 pivots about the pivoting shaft 131 in the direction opposite from the direction of arrow A from the final position to the initial position. Here, the lever 130 causes the slide member 120 to move rearward from the final position to the initial position.
In addition, a plurality of resilient latch arms 113 are provided on the lower end portions of the side walls of the housing 110 as shown in FIGS. 17 and 18. The positions in the forward-rearward direction of the housing 110 where the respective resilient latch arms 113 are provided are positions corresponding to the entrances of the respective cam grooves 121 when the slide member 120 is located in the initial position. As is shown in FIG. 18, slits 112 that pass through from the outer surfaces of the side walls of the housing to the slide member receiving passages 111 are formed on both the front and rear sides of the individual resilient latch arms 113, and each resilient latch arm 113 elastically deforms in the inward-outward direction (left-right direction in FIG. 19). A latching projection 114 that protrudes inward as shown in FIG. 19 is provided at the lower end portion of each resilient latch arm 113.
When the lever 130 and slide member 120 are in the initial position, the mating housing 151 of the mating connector 150 is inserted into the cavity 115 in the housing 110. Then, as is shown in FIG. 19, the latching projections 114 of the resilient latch arms 113 respectively ride over the drive projections 152 provided on the mating connector 150, and are positioned underneath the drive projections 152, and the drive projections 152 respectively enter the entrances of the cam grooves 121 formed in the slide member 120. This position is referred to as being temporarily mated. When temporarily mated, the drive projections 152 of the mating connector 150 are prevented from slipping out by the latching projections 114, so that the lever-type connector 101 is prevented from dropping out of the mating connector 150.
Furthermore, when temporarily mated, the lever 130 may then pivot to the final position in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 17. Then, the slide member 120 moves to the final position, and the lever-type connector 101 is pulled in toward the mating connector 150 in cooperation with the cam grooves 121 and drive projections 152, thus completing the mating between the two connectors 101 and 150.
However, this lever-type connector 101 is constructed such that the resilient latch arms 113 provided on the outer walls of the housing 110 elastically deform during temporary mating. Therefore, the rigidity of the housing 110 is low, and in cases where the insertion is to be performed at an angle with respect to the mating connector 150, there is a danger that the housing 110 will be expanded, so that the lever-type connector 101 will end up being diagonally inserted into the mating connector 150. If the lever 130 is caused to pivot such that the lever-type connector 101 is obliquely inserted into the mating connector 150, an excessive force is applied to the mating part, so that there is the risk of the two connectors 101 and 150 being destroyed.
On the other hand, in order to avoid lowering of the rigidity of the housing 110, if the housing 110 is not provided with any resilient latch arms 113, and instead, the latching projections 114 are provided on the lower end portions of the outer walls of the housing 110 or the lower end portions of the slide member 120, then the drive projections 152 of the mating connector 150 respectively contact the latching projections 114 and the housing 110 flexes on temporary mating. In this case, because the rigidity of the housing 110 is high, the force required for temporary mating is large, thus creating the problem of difficulty in the mating between the two connectors 101 and 150.
The lever-type connector shown in FIG. 20, for example, has been developed as a connector which prevents such oblique insertion into the mating connector 150 during temporary mating, and which avoids the difficulty in the mating between the two connectors 101 and 150. FIG. 20 is a sectional view cut along the forward-rearward direction, showing a state in which a conventional lever-type connector temporarily mates with a mating connector.
A pair of slide member receiving spaces 211 are formed in the housing 210 of the lever-type connector 201 shown in FIG. 20. A slide member 220 is installed in a movable manner in each of the slide member receiving spaces 211. A plurality of resilient latch arms 222 are provided on each slide member 220. Latching projections 223 that respectively latch on drive projections 252 provided on a mating housing 251 during temporary mating with a mating connector 250 are provided at the tip ends of the respective resilient latch arms 222.
These resilient latch arms 222 extend in the vertical direction in the rear portions (left portions in FIG. 20) of cam grooves 221 on the side of entrances 224 where the drive projections 252 respectively enter, and the resilient latch arms 222 elastically deform in an in-plane direction (in the forward-rearward direction) of the slide members 220.
Thus, as a result of the resilient latch arms 222 being provided on the slide members 220, the rigidity of the housing 210 is not lowered, so that diagonal insertion with respect to the mating connector 250 can be prevented during the temporary mating with the mating connector 250. Moreover, only the resilient latch arms 222 undergo elastic deformation during the temporary mating, and the insertion into the mating connector 250 does not have to cause any flexing of the housing 210. Accordingly, the mating operation of the two connectors 201 and 250 can be performed easily without requiring a large amount of force.
However, the following problems are encountered in this conventional lever-type connector 201 shown in FIG. 20. Specifically, the resilient latch arms 222 are constructed so as to elastically deform in an in-plane direction of the slide members 220, and in order to have the appropriate amount of displacement and elastic force at the time of the elastic deformation, a certain length is required in the vertical direction.
However, the installation positions of the resilient latch arms 222 are restricted by the positional relationship with the cam grooves 221. That is, the resilient latch arms 222 are installed by avoiding the cam grooves 221, so that the height of the slide members 220 (the length in the vertical direction) cannot be reduced.